Crimping or swaging apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for crimping comprising a ring of dies, each die independently mounted on a support for radial sliding movement. The outer surfaces of the dies and the bore of a member are shaped so that relative movement between the member and ring, when the dies are in contact with the bore, causes the dies to move radially inwardly to effect crimping. The dies are wedgeshaped when viewed along the axis of the ring and the outer surfaces thereof may form a continuous surface when the dies are in the crimping position. The support may be in two parts relatively movable in a plane perpendicular to the ring axis, and means may be provided between adjacent dies to urge the dies apart.

United States Patent [1 1 1111 3,736,788

Olive-Jones et al. 1 June 5, 1973 4] CRIMPING 0R SWAGING APPARATUS 2,622,652 12/1952 Conroy et al ..72/402 [75] lnvemors: Michael William Olivedones, 3,662,450 5/1972 Kish ..29/237 Maidenhead; Douglas Raymond Randall, London, both of England Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-M. J. Keenan [73] Assignee: BTR Industries Limited, London, Attorney watson Cole, Grindle & Watson England 22 Filed: Nov. 12,1971 ABSTRACT [21] A L M 198,392 Apparatus for crimping comprising a ring of dies, each die independently mounted on a support for radial sliding movement. The outer surfaces of the dies and [30] Forelgn Apphcanon Pnomy Data the bore of a member are shaped so that relative Dec. 3, 1970 Great Britain ..57,496/7O movement between the member and ring, when the dies are in contact with the bore, causes the dies to [52] U.S.Cl. ..72/402, 72/415, 29/237 move radially inwardly to effect crimping. The dies [51] Int. Cl. are wedgehaped when viewed along the axis of the of Search ring and the uter surfaces thereof may form a con.

29/282 517 tinuous surface when the dies are in the crimping position. The support may be in two parts relatively mova- [56] References and ble in a plane perpendicular to the ring axis, and UNITED STATES PATENTS means may be provided between adjacent dies to urge the dies apart. 3,335,594 8/1967 Peterman ..72/402 3,455,140 7/ 1969 Galan et al. ..72/402 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures (IRIMPING OR SWAGING APPARATUS This invention relates to an apparatus for crimping or swaging a tube on to a component located within the tube.

The invention provides an apparatus for crimping or swaging a tube on to a component located within the tube, comprising a ring of radially extending spaced dies which define a space within which the tube is locatable, a support at one axial end of the ring, means to mount the dies independently on the support for radial sliding movement with respect to the ring axis, a

member having a bore in which the ring of dies is engageable the bore and outer surfaces of the dies being shaped so that relative axial movement between the member and ring along the ring axis in one direction causes the dies to be displaced radially inwardly with respect to the ring axis to effect crimping, and means for effecting said relative movement of the member and ring, the dies being generally wedged shaped as viewed along the ring axis so that the outer surfaces of the dies with respect to the axis are wider than the inner surfaces.

The outer ends of the dies may be formed so that in the inner crimping position the outer surface of the ring of dies is substantially continuous.

Resilient means may be provided between adjacent pairs of dies for urging the dies away from one another so that when the member and ring are separated the dies move radially outwardly.

A part of the ring may be mounted on a part of the support which is separable from the remainder of the support and means may be provided for moving said part of the support into and out of engagement with the remainder of the support.

Said means for moving said part of the support may be adapted to move the part of the support linearly in a plane at right angles to the ring axis.

Half the ring may be mounted on said separable part of the support.

The bore in the member may be part-conical and the outer surfaces of the dies may also be part-conical.

The support for the ring may be fixed and the member is moved into and out of engagement with the ring.

Each die may comprise a shoe on which said outer surface is formed and a finger detachably secured to the shoe on which the crimping or swaging face is formed.

The following is a description of a specific embodiment of the invention reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is an end elevation of part of a crimping machine;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the part of the crimping machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a part elevation part sectional view of a ring of dies for the crimping machine;

FIG. 4 is a partly cut away and sectioned end view of the ring of dies shown in FlG. 3 with two different forms of die fingers illustrated; and

MG. 5 is a sectional view of a releasable holding device for holding a die finger of a die on the shoe of the die.

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings there is shown a ring of crimping dies arranged about a horizontal axis indicated at 11 the dies being generally wedge shaped as viewed along the ring axis so that their outer surfaces are wider than their inner surfaces. The lower half of the ring of dies are mounted at one end of the ring on a vertical rectangular plate 12 which is secured by screws 13 to a vertical platen 14 of a press. The upper half of the ring of dies are mounted on a rectangular vertical plate 15 located above the plate 12 and slidably mounted on the platen 14 of the press by guides 16 secured to the platen 14 which engage in rebates 17 formed along the side edges of the plate 15. The platen 14 is formed with a slot 18 adjacent one side of the plate 15 and two of the guides 16 are secured to the platen on either side of the slot. The plate 15 is thus guided for vertical movement towards and away from the plate 12 whereby the upper half of the ring of dies can be separated from the lower half of the ring of dies to permit an article to be inserted between the dies for swaging. This vertical movement is effected by a pneumatic ram, the cylinder 19 of which is secured to the platen 14 of the press by means of a mounting plate 20 projecting from the platen. The piston rod 21 of the ram is connected directly to the plate 15.

Each die 10 is mounted on the plate 15 or the plate 12 by means of a T-section slide 22 which extends radially along the end of the die adjacent the plate and is secured thereto by bolts 23. The slide engages in a corresponding T-section slideway 24 cut in the plate 15 or the plate 12.

The upper plate 15 has two studs 25 projecting from the lower end thereof at locations spaced along the plate which engage in bores 26 formed in the upper surface of the plate 12 to align the plate 15 correctly with the plate 12. The studs 25 are machined with a larger diameter 27 to space the two plates 15 and 12 a short distance apart.

Each die 10 comprises an outer die shoe 28 and an inner die finger 29. The outer surface of each die shoe 28 is part conical in contour so that the diameter of the ring of dies reduces away from the plates 12, 15. A muff or collar (not shown) is slidably mounted on four spaced horizontal guide rods 30 fixed to the platen 14 of the press. The muff or collar has a part conical bore in which the ring of dies 10 is eugageable.

The collar or muff is displaced along the guides 30 by a double acting hydraulic ram (not shown). Movement of the collar or muff towards the platen 14 of the press first engages the part conical bore in the muff with the part conical surfaces on the dies and subsequent movement causes the dies to be driven inwardly as the conical bore in the muff slides over the conical surfaces on the dies and movement of the collar or muff in the opposite direction releases the dies.

As indicated earlier the dies are wedge shaped as viewed along the ring axis and in the inner crimping position the outer surfaces of the dies form an almost continuous surface around the ring of dies with which the bore in the muff or collar engages so that wear on the bore is kept to a minimum.

The dies are resiliently urged apart by devices which will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. As indicated above the, ring of dies comprises an upper half ring mounted on the plate 15 and a lower half ring mounted on the plate 12. FIG. 4 shows the connection between a die at one end of the upper half ring and the opposite die at one end of the lower half ring. There is an identical connection between the dies at the other ends of the half ring. Both dies 10 are formed with oppositely facing bores 32 in the adjacent sides thereof. A hollow sleeve 33 is fitted in the two bores 32 and a compression spring 34 acts between the bottom of the bore 32 in one die and on the side of an annular shoulder 35 formed around the inner periphery of the sleeve at the centre thereof. The sleeve 33 is thus urged outwardly of the bore 32 in said one die into contact with the end of the bore 32 in the other die, and thus urges the other die away from said one die. Movement of the sleeve 33 outwardly of the bore 32 in said one die is limited by a bolt 36 which extends through the sleeve 33 and is screwed into said one die. The bolt has a head 37 located within the sleeve 33 and spaced from the other side of the shoulder 35 to the spring 34. Engagement of the head 37 with said other side of the shoulder 35 limits outward movement of the sleeve from the bore 32 when the dies are separated by raising of the plate 15 as described earlier. The adjacent dies in each half ring having oppositely facing bores 32 and a compression spring 50 extends between the bores of each adjacent pair of dies to urge the dies apart as shown in FIG. 4. Thus the dies slide radially outwardly under the action of the springs 34 and t when they have been released from the muff or collar.

As indicated above each die comprises an outer die shoe 28 and an inner die finger 29. As shown in F 16. d of the drawings a stud 40 projects radially outwardly of each finger 28, each stud 40 being formed with a head 41. The stud 40 and head 41 are received in an outwardly extending bore 42 in the die shoe 28. The stud 40 is held in the bore 42 by means of an axially extending plunger shown in FIG. 5. The plunger is slidable in a sleeve 44 screwed into a bore (not shown) extending from the reduced diameter end of each die axially into the die and opening into the bore 42. The plunger 43 has a nose 46 at one end thereof which engages under the head 41 of the stud 40, and a hexagonal head 45 threaded on to the other end thereof. A compression spring 47 acts between the nose 46 and an oppositely facing shoulder 48 in the sleeve to force the nose towards the stud 40. The die finger 29 is released from the shoe 28 by pulling the head 45 of the plunger away from the die thus releasing the nose 46 from the head at of the stud after which the finger 29 can be moved radially inwardly to withdraw the stud 40 from the bore 42.

in FIG. 4 of the drawings two different forms of die fingers 29 are shown one having a large diameter concave surface for crimping large diameter tubes and the other having a small diameter concave surface for crimping small diameter tubes.

it will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the above described embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention. For example although the plate l2, i5 is shown split in a horizontal plane the plate could be split in a vertical plane or any intermediate angle. Also instead of moving the plate linearly the moving plate may be mounted at one end of a pivoted arm to swing the plate and with it half the ring of dies to one side.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for crimping a tube onto a component located within the tube, which apparatus comprises:

a. a ring of radially extending spaced dies which define a space within which the tube is locatable, the dies being wedge-shaped as viewed along the ring axis so that the outer surfaces of the dies with respect to the axis are wider than the inner surfaces,

b. a support at one axial end of the ring, which support has a part separable from the remainder of the support, 1

c. means to mount the dies independently on the support for radial sliding movement with respect to the ring axis with some of the dies mounted on said part of the support,

d. means for moving said part of the support linearly in a plane at right angles to the ring axis into and out of engagement with the remainder of the support,

e. a member having a bore in which the ring of dies is engageable, the bore of the member and the outer surfaces of the dies being shaped so that relative axial movement between the member and the ring along the ring axis in one direction causes the dies to be displaced radially inwardly with respect to the ring axis to effect crimping, and

f. means to effect said relative movement of the member and ring.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the outer ends of the dies are formed so that in the inner crimping position the outer surface of the ring of dies is substantially continuous.

3. Apparatus as claimed'in claim 1 in which resilient means are provided between adjacent pairs of dies for urging the dies away from one another 'so that when the member and ring are separated the dies move radially outwardly. I

4. Apparatus as claimed in cliam claim in which the bore in the member is part-conical and the outer surfaces of the dies are part-conical.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the support for the ring is fixed and the member is moved into and out of engagement with the ring.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which half the ring of dies is mounted on said separable part of the support.

7. Apparatus as claimed in .claim l in which each die comprises a shoe on which said outer surface is formed and a finger detachably secured to the shoe on which the crimping face is formed.

it t t i t 

1. Apparatus for crimping a tube onto a component located within the tube, which apparatus comprises: a. a ring of radially extending spaced dies which define a space within which the tube is locatable, the dies being wedge-shaped as viewed along the ring axis so that the outer surfaces of the dies with respect to the axis are wider than the inner surfaces, b. a support at one axial end of the ring, which support has a part separable from the remainder of the support, c. means to mount the dies independently on the support for radial sliding movement with respect to the ring axis with some of the dies mounted on said part of the support, d. means for moving said part of the support linearly in a plane at right angles to the ring axis into and out of engagement with the remainder of the support, e. a member having a bore in which the ring of dies is engageable, the bore of the member and the outer surfaCes of the dies being shaped so that relative axial movement between the member and the ring along the ring axis in one direction causes the dies to be displaced radially inwardly with respect to the ring axis to effect crimping, and f. means to effect said relative movement of the member and ring.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the outer ends of the dies are formed so that in the inner crimping position the outer surface of the ring of dies is substantially continuous.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which resilient means are provided between adjacent pairs of dies for urging the dies away from one another so that when the member and ring are separated the dies move radially outwardly.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in cliam claim in which the bore in the member is part-conical and the outer surfaces of the dies are part-conical.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the support for the ring is fixed and the member is moved into and out of engagement with the ring.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which half the ring of dies is mounted on said separable part of the support.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which each die comprises a shoe on which said outer surface is formed and a finger detachably secured to the shoe on which the crimping face is formed. 